With the spring slate approaching, Nebraska men’s and women’s golf emerge from the offseason carrying two very different fall storylines as they prepare for the most important stretch of their seasons.
Men look to steadily continue upward trend
The men are looking to build off a strong fall that saw the team land three top-5 finishes as a squad. This includes an invitational championship back in late September, thanks to a standout showing from junior Rudy Sautron, who claimed a piece of the individual crown. The Git-R-Done invitational co-champion finished 13 under par, backed up by his freshman teammate Caden Mickelson, who placed third with a score of 12 under. They were followed up in the “A” lineup by sophomore Brodie Cunningham, who was one under, and redshirt junior Evan McDermott, who was even.
Other highlights from the fall include team placements of fifth out of 15 in the Purdue Fall Invitational and fourth out of 18 from a strong Bearcat Invitational.
Sophomore Jackson Benge led the Huskers in relation to par, where the Omaha Westside product went over by one in the Purdue (T-18) and under par by one in the Bearcat (T-14). Sautron also put out two more good performances, shooting even par in the Bearcat Invitational (T-23) and a small hiccup shooting two over par in the Purdue Fall Invitational (T-20).
On the other hand, the Huskers ended their fall campaign on a down note, tying for 12th out of 14 in the Steelwood Collegiate. Sautron again stood out and tied for sixth by finishing under four. The next closest teammates were Benge and McDermott, who were knotted in an 8-way tie for 33rd individually.
A positive sign for the Huskers is that their only other team finish below sixth was their second invite of the season, the Gopher Invitational, with the team finishing 10th. Sautron uncharacteristically struggled, shooting 11 over par.
At a glance of the top three in individual, it’s a three-headed dragon with Sautron leading the way at eight under par, followed by Mickelson under by one and Benge being even. Both Cunningham (+17) and McDermott (+19) round out the “A” lineup and will be key pieces the Huskers rely on to lock in consistent team finishes this spring.
Women seek fresh start in spring slate
The women had a far different outcome from their fall ball experience, where the highest the team could finish was fifth; the next highest being a tie for eighth. In the fall, there were only six instances individually where Nebraska was under or even with par, three of them coming in a stacked Sam Golden Invitational to kick off the season.
Freshman Kaleigh Babineaux’s steady results have helped trend Nebraska’s numbers in the right direction after a solid 2026 UCF Challenge performance, shooting even par in the last bout of the fall season. In the previous invite, The Clash at Boulder Creek, the Austin, Texas, native went just two over. She did not compete in the Oklahoma Intercollegiate, where the Huskers placed 12th of 14 as a team. At most, Babineaux has only gone over par by three twice in the first two invites of the year.
Nebraska’s best result as a team came on Sept. 22 and 23 in the Colorado Wollenberg Ptarmigan Ram Invitational, where it finished fifth overall out of 13. Junior Hannah Kono carded 2-under to place her in a two-way tie for eighth. Sophomore Jessica Jolly finished tied for 12th, being even par.
Unfortunately for the women, struggles shooting over par by as much as 11. Their next two fall invites plagued them, which resulted in back-to-back 12th-place finishes in the Oklahoma Intercollegiate and Boulder Creek.
They steered the ship in the right direction before the break at the UCF Challenge, finishing ninth out of 16. Babineaux led the way, shooting even and finished in a seven-way tie for 17th.
With the spring schedule set to begin, the Huskers enter the back half of the season with clear paths forward. The men will look to turn steady fall performances into consistent top finishes, while the women aim to carry late-season improvements into a fresh start as competition resumes.
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